Boston is among 20 American cities that committed Wednesday to new higher education attainment goals.

The
city is partnering with Lumina Foundation in a new effort designed to
increase the number of local residents who earn post-secondary
credentials. (WGBH’s On Campus reports are made
possible with support from Lumina Foundation and the Davis Educational
Foundation.)

Boston and other cities will be eligible for up
to $200,000 over three years. The funds will be tied to education
achievement goals, such as the city’s college completion rates.

“The
new bench-line for the majority of Americans has to be a high-quality,
post-secondary credential,” said Lumina Foundation President Jamie Merisotis.

Merisotis
noted that very few city leaders have been engaged in postsecondary
education, in part because it isn't included in their budgets. But he said
that kind of disengagement is changing because more and more jobs require some kind of college
degree.

“You’ve now got a succession of mayors who have made
postsecondary education a priority,” Merisotis said. “And the advice
that those mayors are giving to each other is that you’ve got to be a
convener of all the players – the employers, the civic leaders, the
community-based organizations and the educational institutions – and be a
driver of those conversations.”

At Harvard University’s
Institute of Politics this week, more than 25 newly-elected mayors from
across the country are driving this conversation. Many of them,
including Pittsburgh’s Bill Peduto, said increasing college access for
lower-income and non-traditional students is critical to their city’s
economic development.

“It’s not only spinning off jobs that come
through the universities, but it’s the innovation that is starting
small businesses,” Peduto said, after he learned Lumina was giving money
to Pittsburgh.

At a time when the cost of education has become a
detriment to most people, Peduto said his city will use the funds to
expand a program that promises a scholarship to everyone who graduates
from Pittsburgh’s public schools.

Foundations are increasingly
setting policy for cities and institutions that graduate America's
future workforce. Lumina, which is based in Indianapolis, has set a
national goal to increase the percentage of Americans with college
degrees or credentials to 60 percent by 2025.